We’re heading into the homestretch in bringing the year 2012 to a close. It’s been a wild ride with politics, the elections, and Hurricane Sandy, which caused an emotional roller coaster for all concerned. During the campaigning, we saw so much negativity in the way of hate and bigotry coming from various “sides” in both the political and religious spheres. Tempers flared as each side claimed to be the only right way. People lied and misconstrued the truth for their own personal agendas and beliefs. I don’t know about you, but I am so fed up with all the nonsense regardless of who is doing it. For several months, I kept thinking that we were about due for some kind of disaster to remind us how much a part of each other we really are and that when it comes down to it, we are all Americans and love will prevail. Sure enough, here comes Hurricane Sandy, which was like a slap on the back of all our heads, saying, “People! Get it together! Have you forgotten who you really are? Where’s the love?” And like we’ve done in other disasters, most Americans once again put aside all differences to come to the aide of our fellow beings, both humans and animals. As of this writing, there were approximately 110 deaths. One death is way too many, but we were fortunate in that it wasn’t more such as the number of deaths from Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, which was in the thousands. As we come through the madness of politics and Sandy, we are now preparing for the madness of the holidays. The fighting and arguing over what holiday greeting to say, whose holiday symbols should be displayed, and families in discord trying to decide whose house to celebrate which holiday, and how much money to spend. To be honest, I don’t see a whole lot of love expressed at this time of year when the holidays are meant to be all about love, peace on earth, and good will to all. Oh, I know the love is there. We do see it in bits and pieces. We just don’t hear about it much anymore because the media tends to only focus on the negative which only feeds more into that negative energy. How many times have you said a cheerful “Happy Holidays!” to someone only to have someone snap back at you “Merry Christmas!” (or vice versa)? People are already making an issue of it on Facebook. To be honest, I’m just happy that anyone says anything to me at all since most times people just ignore each other; therefore, whatever they say is fine with me. Personally, I don’t need to say a particular greeting or display a certain symbol to prove my faith. The first half of Matthew 6 warns us about not practicing our righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. God knows what is in our hearts. We don’t have anything to prove to anyone. People are complaining that others are trying to force their beliefs on them, but isn’t that exactly what those who are doing the complaining are trying to do to others? 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 states, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” The truth is that love, compassion, and kindness should be our priority to all regardless of how others celebrate. By trying to force our beliefs on others, we are judging them by saying they are wrong and we are right. Mother Teresa said that “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” I believe it’s more important to be the example of love, everything Jesus and all the other great spiritual teachers taught. Maya Angelou has it right when she says, “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” The Dalai Lama said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.” If Thanksgiving and Christmas really are holidays based on love, then I would like to invite everyone to respond in kind and with respect. Whatever greeting someone says to me, I will return that greeting and do so with a twinkle in my eye and a smile on my face. I love the Spirit of the holidays. And that’s where I am choosing to put my focus. Love, glad tidings, peace on earth, and good will to all. (Published in the Cookeville Herald Citizen newspaper November 30, 2012.).

Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” This is not a physical image, though man tends to think of it as such. It also says “us” and “our.” Who is “us” and who is “our?” People have many concepts of who or what they think this deity called God is. Some believe that he is a man sitting up in the sky with long gray hair, white robe, and passing out judgments if someone doesn’t believe the way whoever is speaking at the time. Some believe that God is Love. Others believe that God is an energy that permeates everyone and everything in the Universe. When it comes down to it, we don’t know exactly what form this deity takes; we only have our beliefs, and whatever belief you have is fine. I am certainly not going to tell anyone that their concept is wrong. It’s what you believe at this time in your life. The term “image” is more of an essence…the essence of God. Holy. Magnificent. Divine. Miraculous. Unconditional love. Therefore, if we were made in the image and likeness of God, wouldn’t that make us all these things, too? We have that essence of God within us. Some say that we have the DNA of God. So, why do we feel less than? Personally, I believe that when we are born, we are born from the perfect, unconditional love of God. If we are made in God’s image and likeness, then we couldn’t be born in any other way. Some believe that we are born into sin, but I prefer to believe that we are born into the human experience. You’ve probably heard the phrase “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” The core of our being, or soul, is spiritual and comes from the divine. I also believe that we came into this world knowing our magnificence and we know who we are. We start to become and feel less than because after we are born, our caretaker humans start teaching us all the lessons about being human; therefore, we start to forget our true selves. Instead of remembering our original essence of God, we take on the image and essence of our caretakers because we don’t know any better and then we forget. We take on all the beliefs of those around us. We become a product of our upbringing, experiences, culture, religion, politics, general beliefs, and so on. Many are taught to hate others as well as themselves. We learn from the behaviors of those around us. Because of these negative influences, we take on feelings of low self-esteem and low self-worth. We believe what others say we are and then those beliefs become out identity. I substitute in the area schools and one day I had an upper elementary school class. Sometimes, at the end of the class I like to give them a pep talk and have them repeat some affirmations such as, “I am magnificent!” “I am intelligent!” “I am beautiful/handsome!” “I am the best there is and it has nothing to do with anyone else!” After class, a young girl came up to me and said, “Miss Karen? You know all those things you said we are? I’m none of those things.” Broke my heart! I could only tell her that yes she was and she was so much more! How many of us feel the same way? Some may say it’s conceited and wrong to say these things to ourselves, and yet it’s perfectly okay to say negative demeaning things. Friends, we should be saying loving and kind things to ourselves! Would we say those cruel, unkind things to other people? Then why to ourselves? Would God say those things to us? Our self-talk is what limits us and puts us in a box of self-defeat. If we are made of the essence of God, then shouldn’t we acknowledge our inner and divine magnificence? We need to awaken ourselves to this truth! We need to remember who we really are! We know that we don’t have to listen to the people who are trying to keep us down and we can go directly to God/Source who will always love us and build us up! People will use fear and guilt to keep you down so that they can manipulate you and control your beliefs to align with theirs. That is not who God made you to be! We need to unlock the door of our inner prisons and set ourselves free! Our beliefs become our identity; therefore be careful what you believe because that will be the world you create for yourself. You are magnificent and empowering beings! How can you be otherwise? You were made in the image of God!